Of course, just growing your lawn out can look messy and attract pests, and it’s not an option for those with a restrictive homeowners association or local government. To get a good-looking low-maintenance lawn, you’ll need to replace your high-maintenance grass with better grass, flowers, or even rocks.

Low-maintenance grass

Certain breeds of fescue grass, engineered to avoid the breed’s typical clumping, grow slowly enough to need only a monthly mowing. Fescue is hardy enough for many types of soil in most temperate climates. The roots of fine fescues emit an amino acid that kills weeds like crabgrass.

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Sedges are related to grasses and look just like them. They naturally occur on every inhabited continent, and different varieties can withstand different hydration levels.

UC Verde Buffalograss uses less than half the water of tall fescue. It goes brown in a California winter, but if you need it green year-round, you can spray it with a benign turf colorant.

Flowers like creeping speedwell, or branded floral blends like Fleur de Lawn, are more conspicuous but still easily maintained at an acceptable (or required) height. Drought-resistant clover can be seeded right into an existing lawn, and it fertilizes itself by drawing nitrogen from the air.

Or reject the entire “flat ground cover” paradigm and plant a variety of bushes and trees in a bed of mulch. It’s not cheap, but the maintenance labor is much more interesting than sitting on a mower. The Santa Monica project garden\garden showcased a sustainable lawn full of native plants, and the Santa Monica Airport features three creative sustainable gardens.

Something else entirely

In the Southwest, many homes simply cover a small yard in rocks, sometimes dotted with bushes and trees. In less-arid climates, rocks are still a fine base for a yard full of vegetation.

Astroturf, while easier to maintain than turf grass, still takes some spraying down and sweeping up, and it heats up in the sun. All that plastic doesn’t soak up greenhouse gases, and when it’s replaced it ends up in a landfill. Plus it’s forbidden by many homeowners associations. Don’t bother.